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Meet the Michael Elliott Award Winners

The Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling, a collaboration between the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), ONE, and the Elliott family, honors an up-and-coming journalist in Africa who strives to strengthen people's voices and improve their well-being.

2018 Award Winner

Abubakar Ibrahim, a Nigerian writer and journalist currently works as a news editor at the Daily Trust in Abuja, Nigeria. Ibrahim began his journalism career as an intern at Vanguard Newspaper in Jos from 2006 to 2007. In 2009, he began working at the Daily Trust newspaper as the editor of the arts and ideas pages. Ibrahim has also completed extensive reports in South Korea, Germany, Poland and Colombia.

In addition, Ibrahim has written two books. His novel, “Season of Crimson Blossoms” won the 2016 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature. His other book, “The Whispering Trees,” comprises short stories. It was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing and longlisted for the Etisalat Prize for Literature. In 2014, Ibrahim’s name made it to the Hay Festival’s Africa39 list.

2017 Award Winner

Mercy Juma is a broadcast journalist at BBC Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. She is a passionate storyteller, who reports on vital health and science issues from maternal and child health, to sexual and reproductive health and the environment. Until recently, she was a senior health and science reporter at the Daily Nation newspaper and NTV, its sister station.

In 2015, Juma was among the four Dag Hammarskjold U.N. Fellows worldwide selected to cover the U.N. General Assembly in New York for three months, where she reported on the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals.